Genesis’ ‘Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ Gets 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition

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Genesis in 1975 (Back row: Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett, Peter Gabriel; front row: Phil Collins, Tony Banks) (Photo: Armando Gallo; used with permission)

Genesis’ acclaimed two-LP set, 1974’s The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, is receiving a 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition. The landmark record, originally released on November 22, 1974, at the pinnacle of the band’s early success, came at a pivotal point in their history as it proved to be their final studio release with their charismatic frontman Peter Gabriel. Though not a significant success upon its original release—it peaked at #10 in the U.K. and just #41 in the U.S., and none of its singles charted—the title is nonetheless rated as one of the greatest albums of its era and one of the most influential progressive rock albums of all time. The Super Deluxe Edition, with a complete live concert, never-before-released demos, and an elaborate book, will be available as 5-LP/Blu-ray Audio and 4-CD/Blu-ray Audio. Both will be released on March 28, 2025, via Rhino. The expanded vinyl set is available for pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. Its CD counterpart can be pre-order in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

From the label’s Nov. 20 announcement, which followed a brief teaser campaign on the Genesis social media platforms: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition is the album’s definitive compendium, following the arc of the album’s creation and tour.

With input from all of the band members involved in the record – Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Gabriel, Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford – the SDE provides a deep dive into the music and visual elements around this album and includes;

The original album mix, remastered at Abbey Road Studios by Miles Showell from the 1974 analog tapes. A Blu-ray audio disc includes the remastered 96kHz/24-bit high-resolution audio and Dolby ATMOS mixes of the studio album done by Bob Mackenzie at Real World Studios under the supervision of Gabriel and Banks.
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Live at The Shrine Auditorium from January 24, 1975. It is remastered and includes two encore tracks, “Watcher of the Skies” and “The Musical Box.” This is the first time the full live show, including the encore tracks, has been released in its entirety.
Three never-before-released demos from the legendary Headley Grange Session included as part of a digital download card with the full audio from the set.
A 60-page coffee table style book with Alexis Petridis liner notes, who interviewed all five band members to tell the story of TLLDOB – from the writing sessions to live performances – which is believed to be the only time this has happened since its original release. The book also features images from Armando Gallo, Richard Haines and other noted photographers. Also included is a 1975 tour program reproduction, replica ticket and poster.

Genesis in 1974 (L-r): Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford, Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Steve Hackett. (Photo: Richard Haines; used with permission)

All of the album’s tracks were written by the five band members. In Best Classic Bands’ Album Rewind for the LP, writer Mark Leviton notes, “Gabriel came up with a complicated and somewhat opaque ‘urban odyssey’ tale set in New York City, where the young Puerto Rican protagonist Rael encounters various odd characters, dangerous situations and sexual temptations, and meets an ambiguous, but clearly spiritual, end. Like Pete Townshend’s Tommy and Lifehouse projects for the Who, Gabriel explored how rock music connected to social and political life, and pondered philosophy and religion as group phenomena.”

The album’s most pop-friendly songs, “Counting Out Time” and “The Carpet Crawlers,” failed to chart. (Listen to the live performance of the latter below.) They’re joined by such complex undertakings as the baroque-styled title track which opens the album, as well as the astonishing “In the Cage,” led by Banks’ driving keyboards.

As Alexis Petridis writes in the opening paragraph of the liner notes, “Perhaps it makes sense that an album as complex as The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway has an equally complex history. The saga of its making is a strange and lengthy one, involving rat-infested country houses, uncanny presentiments of the future—or at least the future of rock music—Hollywood directors, personality clashes and inflatable penises. It’s also occasionally controversial: Talking to the former members of Genesis about The Lamb…nearly half a century on, it’s hard not to be struck by the fact that they seldom agree about it. Some members of the band have said they think it’s the best album of their career. Others think of it as a brave but flawed experiment. Some people view it as the absolute apotheosis of early-’70s progressive rock: a double concept album filled with dense, intricate, ever-shifting music, featuring a plot so knotty and strange even some members of the band didn’t understand it (“Ask Peter—I’m just the drummer,” shrugged Phil Collins when a journalist quizzed him about it shortly after release) and subject to one of the most famously theatrical live presentations in rock history. Some people think it presages the arrival of punk rock. In fact, there’s every chance that The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is all those things—flawed experiment, career highlight, prog masterpiece, weirdly prescient precursor of punk—at once, which might account for its longevity.”

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition Tracklisting
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway Remastered 2024 (from the original 1974 tapes)

1. THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY
2. FLY ON A WINDSHIELD
3. BROADWAY MELODY OF 1974
4. CUCKOO COCOON
5. IN THE CAGE
6. THE GRAND PARADE OF LIFELESS PACKAGING
7. BACK IN N.Y.C.
8. HAIRLESS HEART
9. COUNTING OUT TIME
10. THE CARPET CRAWLERS
11. THE CHAMBER OF 32 DOORS
12. LILYWHITE LILITH
13. THE WAITING ROOM
14. ANYWAY
15. HERE COMES THE SUPERNATURAL ANAESTHETIST
16. THE LAMIA
17. SILENT SORROW IN EMPTY BOATS
18. THE COLONY OF SLIPPERMEN (THE ARRIVAL · A VISIT TO THE DOKTOR · RAVEN)
19. RAVINE
20. THE LIGHT DIES DOWN ON BROADWAY
21. RIDING THE SCREE
22. IN THE RAPIDS
23. IT.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway –
Live from the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA (January 24, 1975)
Remastered 2024

The Headley Grange Demos
Download Card
1. THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY/FLY ON A WINDSHIELD (Take 1)
2. THE CHAMBER OF 32 DOORS/THE LAMIA (Takes 1-2)
3. IN THE CAGE [Strange Vocals] (Take 1)

Blu-ray Disc
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Dolby ATMOS Mix by Bob Mackenzie at Real World Studios
Studio Album Stereo Mix (24bit/96kHz Uncompressed audio)
Remastered from the original 1974 tapes by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with assistance from Nick Davis